A project proposed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the U.S Air Force to test hypersonic rocket cargo deliveries from a remote Pacific atoll could harm the many seabirds that nest at the wildlife refuge, according to biologists and experts who have spent more than a decade working to protect them.
It would not be the first time that SpaceX’s activities have affected protected birds. A SpaceX launch of its Starship rocket in Boca Chica, Texas, last year involved a blast that destroyed nests and eggs of plover shorebirds, landing the billionaire Musk’s company in legal trouble and leading him to remark jokingly that he would refrain from eating omelets for a week to compensate.
The Technology Roundup newsletter brings the latest news and trends straight to your inbox. Sign up here.
The Air Force announced in March that it has selected Johnston Atoll, a U.S territory in the central Pacific Ocean located nearly 800 miles (1,300 km) southwest of the state of Hawaii, as the site to test the Rocket Cargo Vanguard programme it is developing with SpaceX.
